Purpose
by Useful Oxymoron
Summary: A depressed and lonely Lucy is captured by a dangerous person who forces her to re-evaluate her life by fighting for her very survival. Dark and twisted, with a hint of dark irony.
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone,

For those of you familiar with my Strawberry Panic and Claymore stories should know that this was is a little different. Though there is an element of irony, this story is predominantly dark, violent and twisted, which is only reasonable when you combine one of the most dark, violent and twisted animes with one of the most dark, violent and twisted movie-serials. This one-shot's been mulling in my head ever since I spent the time around Christmas rewatching Elfen Lied and the new Saw V. Yeah, I know that's weird Christmas watching, but it was better than most crappy Christmas tv. :) I follow the anime of Elfen lied, and there are both spoilers for Elfen Lied and Saw, so you have been warned. Also, I neither own Lucy or Jigsaw... though I have a nice Jigsaw figurine on my shelf. Also, I used some of the dialogue from the movies because it fitted so perfectly.

* * *

**Purpose**

_"What I don't understand is, how the Hell could Jigsaw do all this? He was damn near on his deathbed the last time we saw him."_

_--- Officer Rigg, Saw III_

Lucy's head was swimming as her vision was slowly starting to unblur. It took her a moment to realize that something was seriously wrong.

For one thing, she appeared to be hanging from a metal grid hanging face-down over a pit. A quick inspection learned that she was tied to the grid though a heavy chain, binding her ankles, waist and neck to it, while her arms were still free. Instinctively, she tugged on the heavy chain only to find a small keyhole to the girdle which held her waist.

She regarded her surroundings and for a moment, she was worried she had been discovered and would be subject to more years of cruel experimentation. But her surroundings did not resemble a lab. For one thing, the room was far too dark and she could see from the tiles that this room was in a sad state of disrepair.

She tried to think back to what had happened, but everything was blurred. From the snippets of memories she could remember that she had just left the homeless shelter after a quick meal and had stepped into the darkness of night… when she had been jumped by some sort of figure wearing a cloak and had the face of a pig.

_It made no sense at all, what was going on?_

When Lucy felt strength returning to her body, her fighting spirit took over. It would be an easy task to use her vectors to shatter these chains. Then she'd attempt to escape and get to the bottom of this whole situation. Options ranged from shadowy government agents to organ-pirates looking to steal her kidneys. Whoever they were, they would rue the day they had ever laid eyes upon her.

To her horror, however, her vectors did not appear. Lucy tried again, using all her mental strength. It was to no avail: her vectors simply didn't respond to her wishes.

A moment of panic crossed through her mind. If the person or persons who had captured her knew who she was and what she was, and had found a way to disable her vectors, she was in dire trouble indeed.

In a fit of anger, she tugged at her chains again. A feeble attempt doomed to failure.

It was then that she was blinded by a flash of light from below, following by a sense of smoldering heat. When she could finally see again, she could see that she was now suspended over a pit of fire. Sweat started to form on her forehead as she watched the flames raging angrily below her.

Over the roaring of the flames, she heard static from something nearby. She looked up and saw a flat television screen suspended in front of the grid. When the static faded, she saw a strange puppet staring back at her. The puppet looked oddly frightening with red eyes, bonewhite features and red circles painted on his cheeks.

"_Hello Lucy_," said a raspy electronically altered voice. "_I want to play a game. For years you have been running from yourself. You see yourself as an abomination who judged humanity the same way they judged you. Rather than seizing who you are, you have decided to run from everything and everybody to hide in squalor. To made yourself vanish. The fire in the pit below you produces a heat of 1800 degrees, enough to reduce your body to ash. To your side is a box which contains the key to your bonds_."

Looking to her side, she saw the box. It was attached to the grid. Lucy was horrified to notice the red-hot glowing key was located in what was, essentially, a small oven.

"_Act quickly, though, for in sixty seconds this key will have burned to slag and you will be irrevokably lowered into the fire. Do you have what it takes to survive? Or will you simply... vanish. Make your choice_."

As the puppet on the screen faded into static, she could hear the telltale clicks and whirrs of machinery in motion. Lucy yelped as the grid lurched down for about a foot, bringing her closer to the fire.

Lucy sighed heavily. This was another fine mess she had gotten herself into. She had escaped the elimination squads in Japan only to be captured by a madman here. Ironic, really, after all that effort she had put into leaving Japan. After losing the squads, she had managed to stow away on a freighter and found herself in the United States a month later. Here, she had nothing. No money, no friends and she didn't even speak the language. Still, it was the perfect place to hide, and few people paid the homeless any mind.

Here she lived as a drifter, moving from town to town, from city to city. She had learned the language as well as she could out of bare necessity, and made ends meet by doing odd jobs here and there and theft. Lucy had gotten quite adept at using her vectors to pick pockets. The money from these escapades was put towards new clothes, warm meals and a bed at a hotel on cold nights or whenever she needed a shower. But for the most part, she avoided human contact whenever she could. Loneliness was her most trusted companion.

Self-imposed exile.

To live in squalor, as the madman had said, was her lot in life.

Again the grid lurched downwards, and the fire was even closer. Part of her wanted to end it there and there, burning in the fires of hell as punishment for her existence. For what she had done to others.

Faced with the seemingly inevitable fate of being lowered into the fire, Lucy saw snippets of her life flashing in front of her. Being abandoned by her mother, being terrorized in the orphanage, going on a merciless killing spree throughout Japan, being subjected to horrible experiments in the lab... oh yes, perhaps it was best to simply vanish and be gone from this miserable life.

But even through all the misery, the pain and the loneliness, there were the scant few moments of happiness. Those moments with Kouta, both as children and as teenagers, were moments she cherished beyond everything else.

Yes, there would be people who'd miss her, if she'd be gone. It was hard to believe, even to her, but it was true. Even though Nyuu didn't exist anymore, Lucy still had the memories. Kouta's smiling face, the love, their kiss.

Yes, Kouta would miss her if she were gone. In fact, she often thought about the friends she had left behind and wondered how they were doing. But she knew leaving had been for the best. As much as she had wanted to stay with them, with Kouta, she would only endanger them. Kouta, Yuka, Mayu, even Nana. She could never return, but she hoped they were well.

She still remembered the promise she had made to Kouta: never to kill again. And that was a promise she had kept. However, that didn't mean that she had never used her vectors in self-defence. She was a young women with exotic looks living on the streets, after all. But only if it had been absolutely necessary.

Again, the grid lurched down. The heat became almost unbearable now. She closed her eyes and saw the smiling face of Kouta. Yes, he would miss her if she were gone. And that alone gave her strength: this was no time for resignation.

Lucy turned to the small over to her side and removed the metal pane keeping it closed. Lucy was momentarily blinded by yet another burst of heat. The key inside was already starting to melt. Time was of the essence. She grit her teeth, took a few deep breaths and reached inside.

Indescribable pain followed, more pain than she had ever endured at the lab back in Japan. Of course, they had never considered testing the Diclonius' resilience against fire, for obvious reasons. It wasn't long until the terrible pain become to much for her. She withdrew her arm, her hand and upper wrist now covered with horrible burns. Lucy fought the urge to wretch and cradled her wounded right arm.

The grid lurched down again, and Lucy was really close to the fire now. She felt flames licking against her skin and singing her hair.

A lifetime of regrets, missed opportunities and sorrows hit her all at once. Tear started running over her cheeks... oh, if only she could make up for her mistakes... how she would do things differently had she the chance. In the face of a certain agonizing death of literally burning alive, another feeling welled up inside of her, a feeling she hadn't dared to let out in a long, long time. Hope.

Now was the time to be strong. Now was the time to fight. She could be more than the was. She could be more. She wanted to be more.

Lucy took another deep breath, grit her teeth and reached inside the oven once more.

"I want to live," Lucy hissed as she felt around for the key in the smoldering heat. The nauseating smell of burning flesh hit her nostrils and yet her resolve never crumbled. She felt as if her arm was being burned off and yet she never faltered.

Kouta's smile, his smell, his voice... his love.

"I WANT TO LIVE!" Lucy screamed from the depths of her lungs as she finally grabbed hold of the key, and felt the super-heated metal sear into her skin and flesh. She yanked her arm out of the oven, slammed the hot key into the lock and turned it.

Immediately, the locking mechanism clicked, causing the grid to split in two. Lucy was launched to one side, was released from the chains and landed safely on the cold floor right next to the fire. Seconds later, the grid was released and fell into the pit.

Lucy let out a scream of intense pain as she cradled her severely wounded arm, covered with terrible burns and patches of blackened skin. She lay in the fetal position for a moment, before finding a relatively clean white rag to wrap her arm in. Lucy propped herself up against the wall and tried to fight back the adrenalin soaring through her veins at the moment.

She was put on edge again by the sound of something opening in the room. Immediately on the alert, Lucy, slid herself up against the wall and prepared for the worst.

The 'worst' however, was the same puppet she had seen on the screen, though this time it was cycling towards her on a red tricycle.

"_Congratulations, Lucy_," sounded from the doll, that same electronically distorted voice she had heard before. "_You are still alive. Most people are so ungrateful to be alive. But not you. Not anymore_."

"What do you want?" Lucy said, her voice broken due to the pain. "What the hell do you want from me?!"

"The poison which disabled your vectors should have run its course by now," the doll said. "What you seek lies beyond that door."

She decided to test that by using her vectors to decapitate the doll and, to her delight, it worked. The vectors were slowly returning to their full strength. Cradling her arm, she walked to the steel-plated door and, with her vectors, she ripped the door from its hinges and tossed it aside as if it had been made of rice-paper.

A corridor was behind the door, uncleaned and littered with dirt. She had slept in plenty of condemned buildings to recognize one when she saw one. She staggered through the corridor, as the pain from her wounded arm intensified. Beyond the corridor was yet another metal door, which she opened. Behind the door was a large workplace, filled to the brim with tools, metal tables, computers and maquettes.

Sitting at the end of the room behind a desk surrounded by screens, a nerve center of a sort, sat a middle-aged man. The man was wearing a red and black cloak and looked upon her with a neutral expression. The man was looking very unhealthy, with a sickly yellowish skin. Behind him stood what looked to be an often used oxygen canister.

Now was not the time to show weakness, so Lucy suppressed the pain and straightened her back. For good measure, Lucy let her vectors lash out behind her, shattering the metal door and crushing several metal tools as a show of force.

She slowly stepped forward, causing destruction with her vectors as she passed the tables. From the corner of her eye, she spotted a maquette of the very trap she had been in mere moments ago. She picked it up with her vectors and threw it towards him. It passed over his head and smashed into one the computers. The man didn't even flinch.

Lucy was standing right in front of him now, looking down upon him as her hair fell over one of her eyes. "Do you realize," Lucy hissed angrily in heavily accented english. "Just what I can DO to you?!"

The man looked at her with a passionless expression, seemingly unimpressed. "The fact that you haven't done anything yet leaves me to believe that you won't do anything at all," he spoke with that same raspy voice, much clearer now.

Lucy scoffed and grinned evilly. "Don't be too sure of that."

"Let me put it too you this way," the man replied and leant forward. "I have an inoperable tumor which is slowly liquefying my brain. What can you possibly do to cause more pain to me?"

There was an intensity in his eyes which made Lucy stop in her tracks. "Who are you?" she hissed. "Just who the fuck are you?"

The man leaned back and tapped his fingers together. "Just a man whom the assorted media have erroneously dubbed 'Jigsaw'."

Lucy nodded. Even though she tried to keep herself outside of society and paid the world little mind, she had heard of the Jigsaw murders. Or at least, what they said about it in the papers: Jigsaw was someone who let people play sadistic games with their lives as collateral, making them fight for their survival. Of the games Jigsaw played, there were only few survivors.

"Tell me, Lucy," Jigsaw rasped before putting the oxygen mask to his face and taking a few deep breaths. "Right now, do you feel... alive?"

"I feel a lot more alive than you are about to feel," Lucy glowered.

The man ignored the thinly veiled threat. "How long as it been, since you have last felt alive? Was it the day you escaped from that lab in Japan? Or the day you decided to sacrifice your own happiness for the sake of your friends?"

"How did you know those things about me?! How?!"

"It is not important," replied the man dubbed Jigsaw. "Suffice it to say that I have my sources."

Lucy can very close to damning herself yet again, by breaking the promise she had made to the person that mean the most to her in the entire world. It took every fibre of her being to keep herself from shredding this Jigsaw person in front of her.

"Like you, I know what it's like to lose family. I know what it's like not being able to protect loved ones," the man said, as if sensing her internal conflict. "It's a powerless feeling. But unlike you, I've never killed anyone. I give people a chance."

A sardonic cackle escaped Lucy's lips. She pointed back at the corridor with her uninjured arm. "You call THAT a chance?!"

"We'll see. Our game has just begun," Jigsaw replied.

Lucy sighed heavily. "I don't know what you're planning, but will not have any part of it! I only want to be left alone!"

"You want to flee from everybody, including yourself," Jigsaw said. "You don't know me, Lucy. But I know you. I know you shun and distrust all around you. I know you move among the shadows. I know you often cry yourself to sleep at night when the loneliness becomes to much for you to bear. I know there is no person in the world whom you hate more than yourself. Like I said, I give people a chance."

Lucy shifted uncomfortably for a moment, her harsh expression faded. Jigsaw's words had hit home hard. "Some people don't deserve a chance," she whispered softly.

"EVERYBODY deserves a chance!" he rose from his seat, more than a hint of anger on his voice. It was the first emotion Lucy had detected from the sickly man in front of her. Jigsaw coughed painfully and sank back into his chair. "You squander the gifts given to you at birth and stand in the way of realizing your full potential. To take control of your own life."

Lucy chuckled again. "These 'gifts'? The horns that make me a freak and the vectors that make me a monster?! I would instantly trade these things if it meant I could live a normal life! Without these horns I... I could have married Kouta and might even have a family," she said, feeling tears sting at her eyes over things that could have been. "I would have loved to have a family with Kouta."

Jigsaw seemed unimpressed by Lucy's admission. "Without your horns, you would never have even met your Kouta."

"You don't know that!" Lucy snapped, and hissed in pain when she moved her injured arm a little too much. "And my true potential? A killer like you? Is that what you want me to be?! I promised Kouta I would never kill again, and that is a promise I will never break... even if I will never see him again."

Jigsaw shook his head. "I have never killed anyone in my life."

"Oh, really, then why..."

"Killing is distasteful!" Jigsaw narrowed his eyes. "To me... There is a better, more efficient way. The goal of my life's work, which I intend to continue after my inevitable demise. In my work, you get to dispense justice and to give people a chance to value their lives in the same moment. You see, it's a different method that I'm talking about. If a subject survives my method, he or she is instantly rehabilitated."

Lucy stared at him as he grabbed a small remote control from his desk and pointed it to the side. The bolts slid away from a large metal door, which then opened automatically, revealing the night outside. She gave him a questioning look.

"Game over," Jigsaw said, and pointed at the door.

Lucy somewhat warily made her way to the door while never taking her eyes off Jigsaw, who stared back at her with intensity.

"Lucy," Jigsaw said just as Lucy was about to step through the door. "Living without a sense of purpose is a terrible thing indeed."

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked.

"Simply giving you an option," Jigsaw replied. "What you do with that option is your own free choice."

Lucy nodded and quickly made her way outside. The door snapped shut behind her, and she could hear the bolts falling into place. She found herself in some sort of industrial area, near a set of closed steel-mills. She could probably find a good place to sleep here, but she would rather put as much distance behind her as possible.

She walked to a nearby lamppost for a good light and removed the wrappings from her arm to get a good look. The injuries were severe, but they would heal. Diclonius were much more resilient than humans, after all, and the pain was already lessening. The biggest injuries would be gone in a week or so. More than that, her clothes were damaged, her backpack was missing as was her cap so she couldn't disguise her horns.

Lucy let out some pent up frustration by lashing out her vectors are some inanimate objects. She tore apart several rocks, the asphalt of the road she stood on and a wayward wooden bench.

And yet.

So many things around her were so beautiful. Everything was so different. As if her eyes had been opened for the first time in her life. Lucy had never stopped to the look at the full moon as it stood in the clear sky and now she could but stand in awe of the sheer beauty of it.

The song of crickets in the shrubbery, it was as if she heard them for the first time. So beautiful. So serene.

Even the man-made steel-mill, sillouetted against the dark skye, the pipes, mills and chimneys offered an almost organic symphony. Everything around her was suddenly so beautiful.

And more than even that, the Other was silent. The Other had always been there in the back of her mind, egging her on to distrust humans, to kill them, to prove Diclonius superiority. But now, for the first time in her life, the Other was utterly silent. It made her feel free.

"_To take control of your life_," she heard the voice of Jigsaw say in her mind.

It was a weird feeling, to feel alive. She had been dead inside for so long, stuck in a downward spiral towards oblivion. No more. Not when there was so much beauty in the world.

"I am alive," Lucy whispered. "I am someone who matters."

Lucy stepped over to a puddle in the asphalt and saw her own reflection. And for the first time, she could see her own reflection without feeling revulsion.

"_EVERYBODY deserves a chance_!"

She saw the horns on her head as part of her. It made her unique, it made her her.

"There is a place for me in this world," Lucy said, a revelation which made tears stream over her cheeks. "There is. I know it."

Lucy sank to her knees and laughed. It was a genuine, gentile laugh, born out of happiness. She was so happy to be alive.

"_If a subject survives my method, he or she is instantly rehabilitated_."

Jigsaw was right. He had been so right. She had been trying to run from everybody. And for what? Nobody knew her here. She wasn't hunted, or hated. Not more than any other person. And for one thing, she truly felt like she had no more reason to hate herself for anything. Everything seemed so clear now.

Purpose. Growth. Accepting herself for who she was. Those were her priorities. But purpose was the most important.

"_Killing is distasteful_!"

She stood up, and slowly walked back towards the steel door from which she had just escaped. Yes, a purpose. Lucy needed a purpose. And through that purpose, she could remain in control of her life. She could learn to love herself for who she was and become who she was meant to be.

"_There is a better, more efficient way_."

Yes, a better way... even for a Diclonius. Through that door was the only human besides Kouta whom had ever given her an honest chance. In retrospect, Jigsaw had given her a wonderful gift.

And as Lucy approached the door, the bolts clicked and the door opened, welcoming her back inside.

* * *

**Five years later.**

_"I promise that my work will continue. That I have ensured. By hearing this tape, some will assume that this is over. But I am still among you. You think it's over just because I'm dead. It's not over. The games have just begun." _

_---John Kramer, Saw IV_

Director Kakuzawa head felt as if it was about to explode. He blamed himself, though, for having had too many shots of whiskey at the hotel bar.

How he hated these business trips to America. Japan was so much better in every single way. Japan had better booze, better hotels, better service, better toilets, better taxi's, better restaurants and, most importantly, considerably less imbicilic gajin surrounding him at every turn.

Businesstrips was something he had been condemned too. His research facility had never recovered from the loss of Lucy, now six years ago. Without a Queen, his Diclonius research had been essentially useless. Adding to the injury, the Japanese government had withdrawn all funding and demanded the humane treatment of his test-subjects.

A 'Humane solution to the Diclonius problem'. Where these leftist fools so deluded that they thought they could spot the coming cleansing of the world by giving Diclonius children special education? Those idiots!

He had managed to find ways around this limitation by privately funding a research facility on his own away from prying eyes, but the difficulty was finding additional investors, which was what these trips were for. Fortunately, there were others who believed in a Diclonius controlled world.

His vision was still blurry and he tried to remember what had happened last night. He remembered dipping into the mini-bar when someone slid an apparently complimentary TIME magazine underneath his door. The magazine had an article on the Jigsaw murders. It seemed that the Jigsaw murders, even after the death of John Kramer, had continued on unrelentingly while the inept American police had no clues whatsoever.

Still, for a serial killer, the new Jigsaw was more than a little inept: often enough the victims escaped from the elaborate traps set up for them. He had scoffed at the time: it only went to show that Japan also had better serial killers, who didn't let victims escape. It was all a matter of dedication, something these gajin lacked greatly.

He remembered someone knocking at the door, a girl with a familiar voice asking if she could have her magazine back. He had opened the door and then... a pig mask?

He tried to remember after that and moved to rub his head, only to find out that he couldn't move his hands at all. In fact, he seemed to be strapped into something rather tightly.

"What the..." he called out in Japanese. "Untie me! I demand you! Do you know who I am?!"

It was then that the lights turned on and Kakuzawa realized where he was. He was in a large room and strapped in a rig which was used to restrain particularly dangerous Diclonius subjects. He hung suspended vertically and saw that there was some sort of tube aimed right at his head a few meters away from here. With slow dawning horror, he realized it was the same type of air-powered cannon used to fire metal balls at Diclonius subjects to test their resillience.

Crackling static from a monitor next to the rig attracted his attention. On the screen he saw a weird puppet staring at him, and then he heard it. An electronically distorted, yet hauntingly familiar female voice adressed him in slightly accented English.

"_Hello director Kakuzawa. I want to play a game_."

* * *

And so ends this twisted tale. I consider it a happy ending, of a sort, even though Lucy didn't end up with Kouta. She did, however, finally found her place in the world. :) As for Kakuzawa? Did he survive? Well, like John Kramer, Lucy would give him an honest chance... if Kakuzawa chose to take it, he might have even survived. :)


	2. Chapter 2 : Purpose Revisited

Hello everyone,

Last chapter was meant to be a oneshot, but I felt it was necessary to clarify a few things which I couldn't really do in the last chapter. As much as I like the series and as much as I love the character, I am of opinion that John Kramer is quite insane, as are his methods. A method someone as damaged and vulnerable as Lucy was at that point can be very susceptible to. This continuation is meant to show the depths of madness such a person can fall into. If anything this continuation is possibly even more twisted than the first chapter.

And what does it say about me that I actually really enjoyed writing this? :) Oh, well, now it's back to fun light-hearted Stopani stories. Also fun to write. :)

* * *

**Purpose Revisited**

_"It must never be personal"_

_---John Kramer, Saw V_

"_Hello director Kakuzawa. I want to play a game_," spoke the electronically altered female voice. "_For decades, you have subjected others to countless atrocities in the name of your own vaunted delusions. Today, you find yourself not at controls, but at the receiving end. In front of you is the key to your bonds, tied to the instrument of suffering you so value. The question is, can you do to yourself what you have done to so many others?_"

Kakuzawa looked beyond the barrel of the cannon and noticed the top-loader was filled with five or six steel balls, and the top one had a long chain with a key and a hook at the very end.

"_To your right you find the button that will allow you to fire the device. Act quickly though, for in sixty seconds, the locking mechanism to your bonds will permanently close, and I will leave you here to rot. Make your choice_."

Kakuzawa looked to his right while frantically keeping an eye on the ticking clock. He stared in the barrel of the gun and kept his one unbound hand on the button. This shouldn't be too bad. he'd seen countless Diclonius take this kind of abuse, and they were little girls. He, on the other hand, was a man. And a strong one at that.

Full of confidence, he pressed the button. The air-powered cannon moved according to a pre-programmed path and fired the first ball. And after the first ball slammed squarely into his stomach, all his confidence was gone. He had expected it to hurt, certainly. He just never expected it to hurt _THIS_ much.

He coughed heavily and felt like throwing up. He had to stay with the program, however, as the clock was still sticking. He grit his teeth and pressed the button again.

Moments later, the cannon had followed its programmed path and a ball rammed into his knee. He growled in pain as this ball had hit him harder than the last one. He grimaced as he knee started to throb. But this was no time to give into mere pain.

The third ball landed squarely on his bound left wrist, accompanied by a sickening crack and more blinding pain. He bit his lip hard enough to draw blood and by the time he was ready to fire the fourth, the anticipation caused him to start hyperventilating.

The fourth ball slammed straight into his forehead. His head snapped back and for a moment it was as if all time had ceased. After an audible crack, blood started gushing down from an apparent wound, blurring his vision. But through the red haze, he could see he had only ten second left on the clock. Kakuzawa was actually reluctant to press the button for the last time, but realized that whomever was behind this certainly meant business. After some hesitation pressed the fifth button.

Mercifully, the ball passed right past his head. But mercy didn't last. The hook at the end of the chain caught the railing on the rig and the ball's momentum caused it to wrap around the rig and his neck. His eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets at the ball swung around the rig several times, crushing the chain into his larynx.

Time was not on his side, and with his free hand, he weakly grabbed the key and unlocked the rig. He immediately fell to the filthy ground, landing on his broken wrist and yelping out in pain.

He coughed and cradled his aching wrist, his mind already running the machinations on how to exact his revenge for this insult. He was annoying to find that the metal collar which fit loosely around his neck had not come off, unlike the other restraints. He tugged on it, but as it turned out, the solid collar would never fit over his head.

He was startled, however, when the same female voice sounded from the screen now above him.

"_Congratulations, you have passed your first test. Your final test is yet come. The time has come to let go of the delusion of grandeur you have created for yourself, and has condemned to many others to pain and torture. I implore you, fight your bombastic instincts and realize that humility is now in order. Know that the best way to find salvation can sometimes be to simply walk away or hold on to your madness and pay the ultimate price_."

The sound of a heavy metal door opening resounded throughout the room, and a figure stepped through. kakuzawa, more than a little angered by the ordeal he had just been put through, rose to his feet in defiance.

The figure moved with the grace of a lady, her features hidden underneath a black and red cloak. She stopped in the middle of the room, some four meters away from him. Females were not something he feared, and the only reason why he hadn't rushed towards her yet was because he couldn't see from his position if she was carrying some sort of concealed weapon underneath her cloak.

She moved to remove the hood, and Kakuzawa noticed some rather nasty looking burn-scars on her right arm and hand. Anger turned to shock when the female tossed the hood back, revealing long hair of a dark pink hue and two horns jutting out of her locks.

"Impossible," Kakuzawa gasped while the female looked upon him with detached interest.

"Greetings," the Diclonius known as Lucy said without showing any tone of emotion in her voice. "Usually I don't have a tete-a-tete with my subjects, but seeing our personal history I felt obligated to do so in this case."

"Lucy!" he shouted, but his shocked surprise soon made way to a sadistic grin. His pain forgotten, he stood up and grinned. "Do you realize how long I've been looking for you? But now I've found you, I've finally found you! My plan may yet succeed!"

Lucy seemed unimpressed by his revelation. "I find it more accurate to say that _I_ was the one found _you_."

"Speak Japanese," Kakuzawa all but demanded.

"I will speak whatever language I please," Lucy replied in slightly accented English. "Realize that you have no power here, director. When I learned you would be here in this country, I felt it was an opportunity I could not ignore."

Lucy took a moment to step towards the rig Kakuzawa had been trapped in mere moments ago. "Did you like it?" she asked. "I've tried to recreate the experience as accurately as possible. I have one regret though. I had really wanted to make one of those helmets like the one I was forced to wear for so long, but time was a factor. I didn't receive the materials in time to make a proper one for you. I hope you will forgive the oversight."

The elderly man chuckled wickedly. "Oh, Lucy, Lucy, Lucy. Know that I will never relent until I have you back in my grasp. Know that I will do anything in power to bring you back to me."

Lucy shook her head, as if pitying the old man in front of her. "You haven't learned anything, have you? You don't even know where you are, you have just went through a rather painful test and yet you strut around as if you're the one in control. But I was expecting this bravado. Human behaviour is fascinating, you see? If you're good at anticipating the human mind, you leave next to nothing to chance. That's what John used to say."

The director regarded Lucy as he stepped towards her, being very careful to stay out of range of her vectors. Lucy didn't move a muscle and allowed the man to study her carefully.

"You have changed, Lucy. You seem calmer, more serene. Less... aggressive."

Lucy nodded ever so slightly, without looking Kakuzawa in the eyes, always looking straight ahead. "I had an excellent teacher. Self-control is a virtue, he said. You, on the other hand, director... You haven't changed at all. Even though your power is a fraction of what it once was and your facilities are in shambles, you still cling to your delusions of grandeur."

"Greatness has its setbacks," he grinned. "It's all a matter of dedication. And I for one shall never let a setback distract me from my greatest goal to make the Diclonius the new master race, with me as its ruler and god-king! But I, of course, would never expect a wanton killer such as yourself to understand the road to greatness."

Lucy shook her head. "I haven't killed anyone since that day on the bridge," she said resolutely.

Now it was Kakuzawa's turn to laugh. "My, my, is that what you tell yourself when you look in the mirror. How long have you been committing these murders? Five years? Four? How many is it, Lucy? Or do you call yourself 'Jigsaw' now?"

"I help people appreciate what they have!" Lucy said with an edge of anger in her voice. "A wise man taught me that it sometimes takes extreme measures to bring about such an appreciation, a love for life. Believe me, it a lesson I learned the hard way," she said, briefly rubbing her scarred forearm. "But I've helped more people with his method than you ever have with your despicable research, director Kakuzawa! Unlike you, I do work to make this world a better place… one person at the time."

"I was right," Kakuzawa chuckled. "You have changed. You've become even more insane than you already were! I wonder what your little boyfriend would say if he could see you now, hm?"

"Kouta?" Lucy suddenly seemed far away, a dreamy look crossing her features. "Ah, yes, Kouta. I think… No, I know. I know, he would be proud of what I've done. And of who I've become. Through my work, I redeemed myself in my own eyes, director. That is a powerful feeling."

"You truly believe that, don't you?" Kakuzawa shook his head. "Poor deluded Lucy. You do know he's married now, don't you? Yes, I've been keeping tabs on them. He married that girl, what was her name… Yuka, I believe. She's pregnant, you know? You've lost him, Lucy. You've lost everything now."

Lucy seemed lost in thought for a moment, until a genuine smile crossed her features. "Good," she whispered. "Good. I hope he'll be very happy and I think he will be a wonderful father. Of course, you expected me to fly into a fit of jealous rage or collapse in a puddle of lovestruck despair, didn't you?"

Kakuzawa was visibly disappointed that Lucy hadn't responded the way he had expected her to. In fact, it was very hard to latch on to any sort of emotion from her. Years back he would often visit Lucy before an experiment and he would always taunt her for the entire duration. Back then, he had so loved the control he had over Lucy. He had known exactly how to push her buttons, often leaving her as she flew in a fit of rage or had sunk in a corner sobbing out of sheer hopelessness. But today, it was Lucy who was in full control. And he did not like that one bit.

But he had one card left to play, which he gleefully did. "Your friends. For years I kept them alive in the hopes that they would lure a sad and lonely Lucy back to Japan. But I see I no longer have need of them. I will have them eliminated and will send their little heads to your doorstep. Then you'll pay for what you've done to me today."

Still no reaction. Lucy just stood there, still as a statue. And it annoyed Kakuzawa to no end. Bristling in anger, he stepped towards her, just stopping short of being in range of her vectors.

"Do not step where angels fear to tread. Walk away," Lucy whispered softly. It only served to make Kakuzawa even more angry. And he had finally had enough.

He rushed up to her, grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her deeply in the eye. "We can still make it happen, Lucy. We can still bring about the master race. You and me. King and Queen. We are Diclonius, Lucy! Humans are nothing more than fodder! Useless fodder!"

Lucy shook her head and offered the tiniest hint of a smile. "You just _had_ to step up to me to gloat, hm?" she said. kakuzawa suddenly found an invisible force slamming him in the gut and pushing him backward. The wind was knocked out of him momentarily, and when he covered, he noticed the collar around his neck was beeping and a little red light on the front of the collar was blinking with regular intervals.

"W-what the..."

Lucy took a moment to wipe the sides of her cloak where Kakuzawa had just held her, as if to remove unseen filth. When she was done, she produced a small taperecorder from the inside pocket. "You just broke the rules," Lucy said without emotion, clicked the play button and tossed the recorder to Kakuzawa, which he deftly caught.

"_If you are hearing this_," spoke the electronically distorted voice of Lucy. "_Then you have stepped into my vector range, thereby activating the timer of the proximity-sensitive explosive located in your collar. You were warned to walk away, but your arrogance would not permit you to let go of your delusions. You have failed your final test_."

As the beeping steadily increased Kakuzawa started to tug on the collar, in a futile attempt to remove it.

_"Do not rush in where angels fear to tread. Walk away."_

In anger, he actually punched the collar. "Lucy!" he hissed. "You won't kill me, you promised him! You promised the boy!"

"Me?" Lucy seemed genuinely surprised and even somewhat dismayed by the accusation. "I would never break my promise to Kouta. I didn't kill you at all. In fact, I gave you an honest chance to survive. I would have simply let you walk out of here, director. All you had to do was to walk right past me to the door, but you couldn't resist trying to recruit me one more time. You are the one and only architect of your own demise, director."

_"Self-control is a virtue."_

The beeping increased even more, as did Kakuzawa's frustration. He desperately tried to pull the collar over his head, breaking the skin around his chin and ears. "How dare you? Who are you to do this to me?!"

Lucy seemed to look right through him as she considered his predicament. "John always told me I should never let the work become personal to me. Hoffman said the same just moments ago. But I must admit, it is rather nice to know that quite a few Diclonius in Japan will sleep a little easier with you gone. And your subordinates will never find you, director. Nobody knows where you are."

_"You were warned!"_

"Tell me how to stop it! TELL ME!" Kakuzawa shouted and actually tried to stand up to rush Lucy. But when he got close to her, he found himself slammed back against the wall by the grace of Lucy's vectors and slid down to the floor. "My dream can't end like this! I will not allow it!"

Lucy looked at the pathetic wretch of a man in front of her and took a few steps back without taking his eyes of him. "So many people are so ungrateful to be alive. But not you," Lucy said softly. "Not anymore."

_"Human behaviour is fascinating, you see? If you're good at anticipating the human mind, you leave next to nothing to chance.__"_

"LUCY!" Kakuzawa roared in anger and desperation as the beeping had become almost constant now. "Take this off me! LUCY! LUCY! LU..."

Using her vectors, Lucy shielded herself from the splatters of blood, bone and gore spread neatly about the room due to the explosion. When the dust settled, she looked upon the corpse of Kakuzawa, now neatly missing his head and parts of his upper torso, once and forever ending his ultimate dream of global genocide.

She noticed a small shard of bone had landed on the shoulder of her cloak. She nonchalantly flicked it off with her fingers and started to turn around headed towards the door.

And finally, at the door, she turned to look at Kakuzawa's corpse one more time. Finally, she allowed the slightest hint of a satisfied smirk to creep onto her delicate features before whispering two last words to him:

"Game over."

* * *

I stand by my earlier statement that this is sort of a happy ending for Lucy, but it's still frightening to think that of the two persons in the room, it was actually Kakuzawa who was the most sane. :)


End file.
